Yemen’s economic crisis pushes more children out of school and into work
UNICEF estimates 3.2 million Yemeni children are out of school in 2026 as families facing poverty, displacement and war struggle to meet basic needs.
Yemen’s economic crisis is forcing children from impoverished families out of school and into informal work, as rising living costs and scarce employment make education unaffordable.
An Al Jazeera report from Taiz documented children collecting plastic bottles, washing cars and working in shops instead of attending classes. UNICEF estimates 3.2 million Yemeni children are out of school in 2026, up from 1.8 million in 2015.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its 2026 humanitarian plan that nearly 6.6 million children need education assistance. The figure includes children who are out of school and those still enrolled but facing barriers linked to conflict, poverty and the collapse of basic services.
A Save the Children assessment of about 2,000 households in southern and southwestern Yemen found that 84 per cent could not afford basic education costs, including uniforms and textbooks. Nearly one in five identified dropout cases was linked to child labour.
Families cited the cost of food and schooling, displacement, conflict and the lack of stable work as reasons children were leaving classrooms. An education expert told Al Jazeera that prolonged dropout could increase illiteracy, poverty and unemployment, while the report noted that the assessment was not nationally representative.
